Corona's terror continues ... to speed up prayers, suspend flying, impose fines and release prisoners

As the number of Coronavirus infections continues to rise around the world, several countries have tightened their measures to counter its spread, including: accelerating the establishment of prayers, shortening Friday sermons, and preventing retreat in Saudi Arabia, while other countries have announced the suspension of flights to and from some countries, and Iran has released tens of thousands of prisoners .

The Director-General of the World Health Organization warned today, Monday, that the "danger of a pandemic" caused by the Corona virus, which has infected more than 110,000 people in the world, "has become very real."

"After the Coruna virus has spread to a large number of countries, the risk of a pandemic has become very real, but it will be the first epidemic in history that can be controlled," Tidros Adanum Gebresos told a news conference in Geneva.

In Saudi Arabia, the authorities asked the imams to deliver the Friday sermon in less than 15 minutes, and the Ministry of Islamic Affairs banned food and drink in mosques as well as i'tikaaf.

Saudi Arabia said today, Monday, that it will impose a fine of half a million riyals (133,000 dollars) on those who do not disclose their health data and details of their travel movements at the entry points, with the Gulf state seeking to prevent the spread of the Corona virus emerging in it.

On Sunday, the kingdom imposed a temporary closure on the oil-producing region of Qatif in the east of the country, where most of the 15 people diagnosed with the disease reside, some of whom did not disclose that he had traveled to Iran - through other Gulf countries - to the authorities upon their return to Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia suspended travel of citizens and residents temporarily to and from nine countries, and said that it would take legal measures against any citizen traveling to Iran, which recorded 237 deaths due to the virus until Monday.

Prisoners being released
In Iran, head of the judiciary Ibrahim Raisi said - on Monday - that about seventy thousand prisoners have been temporarily released to combat the spread of Corona virus in prisons, while officials announced the registration of hundreds of new HIV infections and dozens of deaths across the country.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Health said that Iran recorded 595 cases and 43 deaths during the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of HIV infections in the country to 7,161 and the deaths resulting from it to 237 cases.

Officials have expressed concern about the possibility of the virus spreading during Nowruz, which marks the Iranian New Year that begins on March 20, a period in which families usually travel to places around the country for the holiday, and the Ministry of Health has asked citizens to stay in their homes and imposed restrictions on Interregional travel.

Despite the warnings, the authorities said that the past few days had seen congestion on the roads leading north to the Caspian Sea, a traditional destination for the Nowruz holiday.

In Algeria, the Algerian Airlines Company said today, Monday, that it will suspend its flights to the Italian city of Milan from tomorrow due to Corona virus, and the Ministry of Health advised citizens to avoid traveling abroad.

Algeria has recorded twenty infections, mostly from one family, from Blida, fifty kilometers south of the capital.

In the Philippines, President Rodrigo Duterte announced today, Monday, the state of public health emergency, and ordered the suspension of study at all levels in the capital for five days, with the number of Coronavirus infections in the country increasing to 24.

Mounting pace
On Monday, the UAE announced 14 cases of corona virus, bringing the total number to 59, and the Ministry of Health said in a statement that among the new cases were four Emiratis and three Italians.

The Sultanate of Oman also recorded two new cases of two citizens coming from Iran, indicating that they are subject to quarantine and their condition is stable, raising the total number of injured people to 18.

And Qatar - which recorded 18 infections - announced the suspension of studies in schools and universities from tomorrow, Tuesday, to prevent the spread of the virus.

Bahrain closed a unit in a main hospital in Manama after it was confirmed that a trainee was infected with the virus, according to Bahrain News Agency today, quoting the Ministry of Health.

The agency said that the authorities also stopped the travel of Bahraini officials abroad until further notice, and the country recorded 95 cases of the virus.

In Tunisia, the Minister of Health announced the registration of three new infections, including one local infection, bringing the number of confirmed cases to five.

The Lebanese Ministry of Health said that nine new cases of the virus have raised the total number of people infected with it in Lebanon to 41.

For its part, the Palestinian government confirmed that the number of people infected with the virus in the Palestinian territories increased to 25, after recording five new infections.

Spread in Europe
Cyprus announced that it had recorded two cases of the virus, which means that it has become widespread in all 27 European Union countries.

Health Minister Konstantinos Yuano said - at a press conference - that the injured are two Cypriot people, the first is a 25-year-old young man who recently returned from a trip to Milan in northern Italy, the country most affected by the virus after China, and the second health worker who returned shortly before the United Kingdom .

In Germany, the health authorities announced the second death in the country related to the Coruna virus, and the authorities in Essen, North Rhine-Westphalia, said that the second death was for a 89-year-old woman who was infected with the virus last Tuesday.

The number of confirmed cases of HIV infection in Germany has increased to 1112, according to the German "Robert Koch" Institute for Research and Analysis Monday morning.

An official in Brandenburg also announced that between four thousand and five thousand people were quarantined because of a suspected injury in a school in the state in eastern Germany.

In Britain, the death toll from the virus has risen to one-fifth and infection to 309. In Sweden, it has reached 248.

In the United States, New York State announced that its number of injuries had increased to 142.